Cereals

Annual Incomes
An increasing number of arable farmers are growing cereals on a relatively small-scale, cultivating heritage varieties and selling grain and/or flour directly to consumers. One farm, Torth y Tir, has developed a farm to plate model, and grow, mill, bake and retail their bread; the first ‘peasant bakery’ in the UK for decades. There aren’t yet any publications that have looked at the range of incomes being generated by these small-scale cereal producers. The EU project ‘Cereal Renaissance in Rural Europe’ provides a case study of Torth y Tir which includes their wheat yields per hectare, and their income per tonne of wheat from their flour and bread sales: cerere2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/PA_22_EN.pdf

Start-Up Costs
The LWA interviewed a new-entrant arable farmer producing wheat on 25 acres and using the grain to produce bread sold directly to customers. The start-up costs are set out in detail in the    publication New Entrant Example Start-Up Costs:    https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/New-entrants-costs-website.pdf See Section 1 for details of a 5-day course on setting up a peasant bakery, from growing to retailing.

Yields
Researchers    have looked at cereal varieties more suited to organic production. A comparison of yields, and protein content, of 17 conventional, heritage and new European wheat varieties grown on organic land can be found at Innovative Farmers (2018):    innovativefarmers.org/news/2018/november/21/results-from-organic-wheat-variety-trials/ The EU project ‘Cereal Renaissance in Rural Europe’ in their case study of Torth y Tir includes their wheat yields. The authors note in the case study that the relatively low yields are made up for by the added value of the bakery. Organic Farm Management Handbook (2017) provides yields for a range of organic cereals:    organicresearchcentre.com/resources/the-organic-farm-management-handbook, as does the Farm Management Handbook (2019):    fas.scot/downloads/farm-management-handbook-2019-20/ The above case study from the LWA details how much wheat, and land, one farmer uses to produce a given amount of bread.

Running Costs
The Farm Management Handbook (2019) provides average variable costs for organic cereals including wheat, oats, and barley:    fas.scot/downloads/farm-management-handbook-2019-20

Sales Prices The price achieved by a small-scale cereal farmer varies significantly depending on whether the cereal is being sold wholesale, retail, or being used in bread making and sold directly to customers. Torth y Tir can be looked at as an example of prices being asked for bread produced by the farmer: loafoftheland.org/buy-bread Tamarisk Farm sells whole and milled grains directly to consumers:    tamariskfarm.co.uk/wp/shop Gilchesters sells its milled heritage grains directly to consumers:    gilchesters.com/product Dartington Mill CIC is selling the wheat it mills via a local food hub:    facebook.com/dartingtonmill/photos/a.2255594578090349/2690006427982493/ For wholesale prices, the Soil Association produces monthly prices for oats, wheat and barley:    https://www.soilassociation.org/farmers-growers/market-information/price-data/arable-price-data/